A present from me to you
by Beth - Geek Chick
Summary: A sweet A&A oneshot for the holidays from me, Beth - Geek Chick, to you, my wonderful readers! Enjoy.


The DPD had never looked more – well, I'd say festive, but even the government had limitations on strings of lights and swaths of garland. And the whole separation of church and state/nation had the higher-ups wary of picking one holiday over another.

The only way they'd be able to pacify everyone without angering anyone was to allow every employee to decorate his or her desk with whatever they wanted to during the last two weeks of the year.

As I walked through, after being gone for two days of personal leave, I couldn't help but smile at the array. It seemed the entire history of Saturnalia from its inception to its current incarnation was on display.

Stars, menorahs, candles, wreaths, small decorated trees. Even with all of my travels, I couldn't identify some of the pieces. My desk, sadly, was the only bare one, and I made a mental note to bring something in tomorrow.

I glanced over to Tech Ops to see what Auggie had done, and I smiled. His pristine desk held one small tree in the corner. Well, I thought, covering the place with garland would probably mess with his sense of direction.

A small movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I saw Rebecca, a support staffer whom I knew was notorious for making the rounds among the male staff, was tip-toeing towards Auggie's office.

A bit of greenery was clutched in her hand, and I saw her eyeing the top of the door. She wouldn't, I thought. Then she started to reach up, and I knew I had to do something.

"What do you think you're doing, Becks?" I asked, coming up behind her. I knew she hated the name, and the look on her face showed her displeasure as she turned quickly towards her, her hands flying behind her back.

"Walker, back early, I see."

Though the woman was pretty in general – blue eyes and black hair with porcelain skin – the inch of makeup and overly white teeth kind of killed the effect.

"You didn't answer my question, Becks."

"Fine," she said with a huff and turned to leave.

I deftly plucked the mistletoe from her hand as she stalked off. No use allowing her to pounce on some other unsuspecting co-worker. I jumped slightly as the door slid open, and Auggie stood there.

I silently counted. One-two. It was no secret now that he could tell when I was near, and instead of begging him to tell me how, I'd begun counting how long it took. Usually it was less than five seconds.

"Annie? Did you need me?"

I pushed him back in and slid the door shut behind me. Unfortunately, the hand I used to push him still carried the mistletoe, and he heard the rustle against his shirt. His hand came up to capture mine before I could pull it away, and he plucked the sprig from my fingers.

A couple of seconds passed while he fingered it, then a teasing smile came to his lips.

"Resorting to mistletoe now? You just have to ask, you know."

I grabbed the sprig out of his fingers. "It's not mine. I caught Becks trying to hang it from your door."

"Then I must offer you my sincere thanks," he said, an involuntary shudder of revulsion shaking his shoulders. "She tries that every year."

Whether it was the time off or the merriment of the season, I felt a little silly, so I replied, "Why not just give her what she wants, so she'll stop trying?"

"Annie, please. I just ate," he said, resuming his seat. "Even I have standards."

A sarcastic retort was on my tongue, but I decided to be generous and let it pass. Instead, I took my normal seat beside him.

He knew when I did that that I wanted to talk, so he replaced his headphones on the desk and turned to me. "How was your early Christmas?"

"Great. Chloe and Katia are old enough to know the truth about Santa, so gift exchanges are a bit easier," I said.

"And Danielle? How does she feel about spending the day with her husband?"

I sighed. "I don't know. She knows I think a reconciliation is a waste of time, so she refuses to talk to me about it anymore."

I shook my head at the memory of the argument we had two weeks ago when she told me she planned on taking the girls to Michael's for the holidays, and I'd be on my own.

"You ever think she still loves him?" he asked.

"What kind of man leaves his wife and children just 'cause he got a younger and prettier offer?" I scoffed.

"I'm on your side, Annie. I just think you should give her the benefit of the doubt. It's her life."

"I didn't come here to argue, Auggie," I said, tiring of the endless merry-go-round that was my sister's lovelife. Especially when my own could use some attention.

"Okay."

And he waited, patiently. I could tell he was waiting for me to keep talking, so I did. "I was going to ask you what you planned on doing for Christmas."

Yeah, that's open-ended enough, I thought. And it held no hint of begging, right?

"Trying to finagle an invite to Casa Anderson, Walker?"

"What? No! I mean, I'd planned on spending it with the girls, and now I can't."

Yeah, Annie, that didn't sound pathetic at all, I thought, giving myself a mental head slap.

"Well, since I already did the obligatory visit home at Thanksgiving, I am plan-free come this weekend," he said.

"Oh." Yeah, that's all I could muster as my confidence flew out the window. I mean, I didn't even know if Auggie celebrated Christmas in the traditional sense. All I know was, I'd already gotten him a gift, and I really didn't want to spend the day at home alone watching basketball or some cheesy holiday movie on tv.

My silence must have concerned him, 'cause the next thing I knew, his hand came over and touched my sleeve, sliding down 'til his fingers entwined with mine.

"Why don't you stop by?"

"Really?" I didn't mean for my response to sound so hopeful, but my emotions regarding my best friend had always been just out of my reach. Especially when we were together like this, alone and close.

"Sure, I'll even whip up some of my special eggnog brew for us."

"That sounds wonderful," I said, placing my hand over our entwined ones. "And I can give you your gift."

"You bought me something?" he asked, his eyes lighting up like a little boy.

"Of course I did," I said, giving his hand a squeeze before standing up. As I was leaving, he called my name.

"Annie?"

"Yeah?" I asked, turning back to him. The look on his face was somewhat unsure, which kind of threw me, but his eyes still held that air of confidence he always exuded.

"If you want, you can bring along the mistletoe."

The meaning of that sentence could've been teasing, and really, should've been knowing Auggie, but I could tell that, this time, he wasn't joking.

"Are you sure?" I asked, as my heart gave one hopeful kick under my ribcage.

He nodded, and I quickly covered the room back to him. We were still at work and in a glass-walled room, so I kept my response as G-rated as I could muster with a half-hug and a familiar brush of my lips across his strong jaw.

"I'd love to spend Christmas with you, Auggie."

* * *

><p><strong>AN As the title states, this little story is my Christmas present to all of you, the beautiful, patient, loyal readers. I'd thought of doing a little oneshot for the holidays for everyone, but couldn't think of anything until I picked up my composition book and pencil tonight and started writing. Even as I began, I wasn't sure if I could pull off a plausible oneshot, as I'm better at multichap fics.**

**I owe you all much more than a thousand words of A&A, 'cause you may not know this, but you all have giving me the best gift of all. You got me writing again, after years of not doing so. **

**Hope this season brings you all a sense of well-being and good health.**

**Happy Holidays, everyone!**


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